Hello, and welcome home. No need to apologize for time away and time off. The recipes posted in your absence were terrific, especially the asparagus soup. Taking time off is a good thing to do, however near or far one travels. Thank you for the stories and photographs. Looking forward to recipes with udon and soba and radish and seeing your friend’s cookbook, Japanese Farm Food.

I loved reading about your trip to Japan! One of my majors in college was Japanese, and I studied abroad in Kyoto for a semester. Since then, I have been back once as a tourist, but only to Tokyo. Makes me wish I could go back to Kyoto, Nara, and the countryside. :)

That looks incredible! My husband and I, along with a close friend, plan to travel to Japan later this year and I can’t wait to see Kyoto and Tokyo! I think I’ll be like you, I love Japanese food and could eat it all day every day. Hopefully my husband will be the same too!

Super, super cool post! I loved this little peek behind the scenes. The photography are amazing, too! My favorite is the one taken in Ginza, Tokyo – it seems as if the whole world is bustling around you, with you in the calm center of the storm. :) There are many great recipe sites on the internet that I love, but yours is, by far, my favorite. Thank you for working so hard to create quality content.

I very much enjoyed your pictures and comments from Japan as they brought back memories of our own family’s stay in Yamanashi prefecture and Kyoto with our daughter-in-law’s parents. I’m sure we stayed in the same hotel near the station! I am a great fan of Japanese cooking and would love to see a recipe for okonomiyaki on this site!
Thanks so much for sharing your lovely vacation with all of us!

Elise, it was lovely to see your trip unroll on these pages. I have only visited Kyoto once it is a fairly overwhelming temple experience. But I did fall in love with the Kenninji temple and could have stayed there for hours. It was fun to hang out with you in Saitama. Nancy

I stayed in Japan for six weeks many years ago and enjoyed every minute. Okonomiyaki was our favourite meal! thanks for bringing back those happy memories. I am off to look at that indigo days blog – wow it looks amazing.

I’m so happy to find out that you, my favorite recipe blogger, loves my home country, Japan! Kyoto is somewhat magical and special place for all of us Japanese. Living in Shimogamo for a year? – you must have more traditional “Yamato” (Japan in an ancient poetic way of saying) experience than I do!!
Thank you very much for sharing your precious experience.

I love that you took the time to share your trip! What a unique and fun experience for you. So nice for you to treat yourself after such an extended non-vacation. And you got to see Nancy and her life on a Japanese farm- how wonderful!!

Thank you for sharing this wonderful trip. I know from experience thata trip to Japan is an unforgettable experience, and one is lucky to be able to share the love of Japan with family and friends. Thx again!

Lovely to read about your trip!
I’m currently planning our first trip to Japan, having wanted to visit for so long. I have our itinerary set but our budget has shrunk so am researching hard to find affordable accommodation that is also charming, well-located and has private bathroom facilities. If you have any tips for such in Kyoto and Tokyo, I’d be so grateful.
Thank you!
x

Thank you for sharing your photos. I enjoyed all of them very much. I am Japanese and living in FL with my American husband. I am really missing Japan and Japanese food. I am very glad that your family and you seemed to love some traditional Japanese food such as Soba and Kaiseki. I wish that my husband would also enjoy some authentic Japanese food like you did. I’ll cook some soba for my lunch today, anyway. Thanks again.

Thank You for indulging!!! I also practiced Aikido for 10 yrs in (Silver Lake)area of Los Angeles… under Rod Kobiashi. I greatly admire the path you were able to go and feel a connection to Kyoto that I was not able fulfill.
I have lived in Pensacola, Fl for 10 yrs now and love your recipes~
Domo Arigato Gozai Mashita

What a wonderful trip! Reading your most made me miss Japan terribly. I haven’t been to Kyoto since I was a child and wish I could go again as as adult so that I can appreciate it’s beauty properly. And the takenoko are huge!

Of course we are interested! Thanks a lot for posting these beautiful pictures. I have been to Japan twice and absolutely loved it. Such a fascinating country. I am even learning a bit of Japanese for my next trip because communication is the only thing that was a bit frustrating for me during my trips :)

Thank you for sharing – what a lovely place and what a fabulous trip! I have a dear Japanese friend from Kyoto, and you’ve reminded me to give her a call :-) So glad you had a great time, and what a wonderful experience for your nephew!!

Thanks, Elise. Your vacation pics and comments cemented my desire to visit Japan sooner than later. Been a Japanophile since high school and I love Japanese cuisine. Hope to see some more things Japanese in your blog. Thanks again.

How funny!! I spent a couple of weeks in Japan in April, too, including a week in Kyoto/Osaka. And Kyoto’s okonomiyaki is one of my favorite things on the planet…that, and matcha-sakura KitKat bars. :)

You studied Aikido?! You have just gotten so much cooler in my book (you already were). I’ve been a karateka and more recently a kendōka. I can’t wait to visit Japan one day for that, the food, the motorcyles….yes it’s one of my dream places to go!

I love love love that you were in Japan! I lived there for three years courtesy of the US Marine Corps. I am hoping my family will be able to go back there next year to live again. We lived in Okinawa, and I never got to travel to mainland. But I hope to someday soon. Youre pictures are amazing and make me want to go back again so badly. Japan will always have a part of me.

Wow. I just discovered your website a couple of months ago (not sure what took me so long) and thought it was fantastic. Now I appreciate it even more!!! Thanks so much for sharing so much with us. You seem like a pretty awesome person w/ a great family. I’m hoping to be able to travel to Japan within the next few years & look forward to having an amazing time as well. Thank you.

This brought back wonderful memories of our adventures in Japan with Friendship Force Internationl. We stayed 2 weeks with local families experiencing their culture and lifestyle, and visited so many amazing places. I loved the generous and courteous people, the efficiency, cleanliness, beauty – and, of course, the food. There were so many special foods, but one of our favorites was okonomiyaki. It’s my intention to have an okonomiyaki party at home in Alabama! I hope you will expound on this at length in your blog. Thanks for sharing your trip with us!

Arigato gozaimashita! Love this post, thanks for sharing!!! I love Japan, I think everyone should go at least once if they get a chance. And your description of okonomiyaki (translates roughly to “how you like it”) is just like mine! “Cabbage pancake with your choice of nom noms… uhm, you just have to TRY it! I SWEAR it tastes better than it sounds!” Oishii!

Great photos and explanations. I haven’t been to Japan since I was 10 (38 years ago!), despite the fact that all of my mother’s family is there. You’ve inspired me to make an effort to get back there again soon. Thank you for sharing!

What an interesting post! I’m in the middle of reading a series of books that take place mostly in Japan (with a slight detour to Washington DC and San Francisco in a couple of the books) by a British born (Indian father and German mother) and now living in the States author. Sujata Massey captures perfectly the life of a raised in the states Japanese-American who lives and works in modern day Japan. She is also very good about describing Japanese food…

Wow Elise, I’ve always wanted to visit Japan. Living on the east coast hasn’t prepared me for earthquakes and that is single handedly keeping me away. thank you for sharing your pictures and glad to have you back!

I love the pictures and have always wanted to visit Japan. My parents went there when I was young but I didn’t get to go. I am looking forward to some Japanese recipes Thank you for the peek at a beautiful city.

My friend and his wife visited Japan and brought me back a really cool tenuki print. How fun! I heard stories of “Gaijin” being shouted from the streets with accusing limbs and visual shock. Oh to experience that history, culture, and food :) Looks like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing.

Dear ELise,
i visit your blog quite often. i love your recipes. i have baked your banana bread twice. it is really good.
i subscribe to your blog. what a great trip to japan!
hugs from England [but i am Brazilian]
Kalina

Thank you so much for sharing your trip with us! I thoroughly enjoyed reading about it and seeing the great pictures. Sounds like the trip was a balm to your soul. You should go more often and write about it for us!

Thank you for sharing your beautiful photos and experience while in Japan! I almost felt like I was “there” with your descriptions of your visit. What a true blessing to have the opportunity to go back again.

What a wonderful trip!! I spent almost a week in Kyoto touring the temples and neighborhoods as well a few years ago and your photos brought back some good memories. How cool that you studied Aikido. Do you still practice? Anyway, I have some serious food envy … I too could eat Japanese 24/7. Welcome home!

I would also like to request a recipe for okonomiyaki if you’ve got one. My husband studied abroad in Japan twice and we have pictures together in many of the same places you do. I’d love to be able to recreate the wonderful food we had there!

I lived in Japan for awhile many years ago.. It was wonderful. Seeing the photo’s and reading the description brought back tons of great memories. Oh the food! Good people, good food, good country to spend some vacation time in. Lucky you!

Wow! I loved your photos! It brings me back to the trip I took a few years ago to Japan, and reminds me of how much I want to go again. Definitely one of the highlights of my life. Glad you enjoyed such a culturally rich experience. And had your nephew along, too. What a wonderful thing to expose him to another culture.

Thanks for bringing back a lot of increasingly (!) old memories, as I spent 2 years in Japan in the mid-’60s with the U.S. Army, and had the chance to see a number of the cities and towns, meet the people and sample the superb cuisine. Kyoto was by far my favorite place, but also got to Tokyo, Kobe, Nara, Osaka, Beppu, Nagasaki, Sapporo and a host of smaller villages on Honshu, Hokkaido and Kyushu Islands. Unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to return. One large benefit to having been there way back then was the currency exchange was 360 Yen to the dollar, so things were quite inexpensive compared to today. I remember a Kobe Beef steak dinner in Kobe costing under $20, including beverages! One can only dream now….Thanks again for a great post.

thank so much for showing us kyoto from the inside.
what a special place these seems to be for you and
now my interest is peaked just a bit more for all things
ancient japanese. i’ll keep my eye out for your friends cookbook.

Definitely no need to apologize for going on vacation! I am so jealous! My son is currently working at Disneyland in Tokyo for 7 mo. (does so every year) and I keep on telling myself that I should go visit…..well, your pics have really made an impression. He just might get a visit from Mom after all!

Thank you for sharing and I will be looking forward to the Japanese cooking book!!

HI Elise, it`s wonderful that you shared this photos, I am so happy for you and your trip, a very well deserved vacation! Enjoy the place which looks awesome! i love your blog and posts! Thank you!
Moni.

Hello enjoyed your trip too Japan and all about the foods finding living in Hawaii long ago got too eat some Japan dishes, now i am into and alsways have been into the movies from their i like the lifestyles, romance ones and history when shown thanx

No apologies needed for your diversion from recipes — Unlike many of your other commenters, I don’t even have any particular “orientation” toward Japan, but I still thoroughly enjoyed reading about your trip and seeing your pictures. I think we all like your blog so much, it’s nice to get a little “peek” into your life. Your trip sounds great. Looking forward to future posts!

Hey Elise, that sounds like a wonderful trip. Thanks so much for sharing with us! Never apologize for a vacation-arent they over all to quickly? It’s also cool you took your brother and his son- what an eye-opener that must have been for him! Travel is the greatest thing in the world.

Austin had a great time with his Aunt Elise, Uncle Eddie, and Guy, though I think he would have been just as happy with fewer temples! He was well fed, so that sort of made up for all the walking we made him do. ~Elise

That was a nice surprise to see my favorite city, Kyoto! As you described, it is one of the most beautiful place in the world. I am originally from Tokyo, Japan, and I have not gone back there (my family still live there) for almost 5 years. I don’t miss Tokyo so much anymore, but the picture of Kyoto made me homesick a little. Thank you for posting those wonderful pictures! I love your recipes, and I loved this post more!! :)

Elise,
Thanks for sharing!
I spent 20+ years of my life in the consumer electronics business with MANY trips to Tokyo, Osaka, and Kyoto. Your post brought back a lot of very good memories. Japan is a wonderful place, but can be a little intimidating to a “westerner”. Early in my travels I learned that many of the Japanese school children were learning english and enjoyed practicing their skills with me. They became my built-in tour guides when I had free time. Thanks again for bringing back some great memories.

Just want to say it’s so heart-warming to see this nice family trip of yours.
I have enjoyed going onto this website for many years, though most of the time I didn’t make the dishes by the recipes, the simple words, great photos and the wonderful creations have always inspired me and made my days, thank you, Elise Bauer and those who provided the recipes :) You did a great job there!

Elise,
That sounded like my dream holiday!
This is my first time writing here, but…
Just reading about it made me feel a little bit like if I had been there too.
Please, next time you go to Japan let us know, I loved reading about it. And by the way the pictures are really nice too.
Thanks for sharing your experience :-)

As a future host mom of a Japanese exchange student (she arrives end of July beginning of August for a year)I was thrilled to see your post. I have told my family after hosting 3 years of European exchange students this will be very different and our menu’s will change as well. So please post lots of recipes I can use, lol. Thanks again for a brief look into a world we know little of.

I too appreciate your sharing the trip highlights and photos with us. It was fun for me to take a trip down memory lane too. I was in Kyoto back in 1987 when I traveled there with Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey circus . . . as a clown! How our lives twist and turn! And yes, I too remember Okinomiyaki fondly. Thanks, too, for a great blog and a wonderful resource for recipes.

Never feel you have to apologize for having a life beyond a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon!

I’ve had the pleasure of visiting Japan twice for a month each time. Ryoanji Temple always intrigued me, but my favorite memory is on the Ginza. I towered over everyone else (I’m a whopping 5’9) and just floated along on this sea of humanity, hoping they all knew where they were going because I surely didn’t. Your travelogue vividly reminded me of those times.

I loved seeing the pics. I lived on Yakota AFB as a child and was able to go to Osaka as an adult as an airline employee. We took a day trip to Kyoto and I loved it. Recognized some of the pics. Thanks for sharing. I felt so comfortable in Japan and loved the smells I remembered from childhood.

I read your blog regularly (you’re a gadget on my igoogle) and I was surprised to see you were recently in my neck of the woods! I agree with you – I could eat Japanese food for years and never get bored. In fact, I just went to France for a week and couldn’t wait to get back to Japanese food! I even ate takenoko tonight. ha ha! I can’t wait to see if you got some good recipes while you were here…hint hint. Either way, I’m glad you had fun!

Hi Elise – Let me add my voice to the chorus of those thanking you for sharing this wonderful trip. I love traveling in the far east. It looks like I’ll have to add a trip to Kyoto to my bucket list. Can’t wait to see Nancy’s book this fall.

Sounds like an absolutely great trip! I’m going to Japan for the first time this September for 2 weeks (my boyfriend and I are starting off there for a 2 year backpacking trip through Europe and Asia and I couldn’t be more excited for the temples and the delicious food!

Thank you so much for sharing your vacation to Japan with us. I love the pics & love how you took the time to explain each one. I always wanted to travel to Japan, but being a single mom of 3 kids it is just a dream of mine. Your nephew was very lucky & you’re a special aunt to have taking him.Be Blessed & again thank you for sharing your vacation..

Thanks Elise! Makes me want to go to Kyoto even more. Kent has been, but I have not. He too said it was beautiful. Looks like you had a wonderful time. Please don’t wait nine for years for another adventure! Life is too short, and there is too much wonder in the world to experience. Thanks for sharing with us another side of you. How neat that you got to live there for a year. Lovely photos, especially the one of Kenninji temple. And great you got to visit Nancy! Her farmhouse sounds fantastic.

Elise it sounds like you enjoyed a wonderful time. I am so happy you shared photos and gave us a glimpse into Kyoto. It’s always been a dream for me to travel to Japan. I’m still dreaming. I think I would be like you wanting to visit as many temples as possible. I’m sure you enjoyed catching up with friends and making new memories. Nancy’s farmhouse is beautiful and that kitchen – wow! Thanks again for sharing.

Lovely! My husband obtained a degree in Japanese, speaks it fluently, and has lived in Kyoto. He loves Kyoto as much as you do. He frequently makes okonomiyaki for us at home and I’ve grown to really love it! I’m forwarding this entry to him… I know he will enjoy it immensely! Thank you!

Oh, I just LOVED Kyoto. It was fun recognizing the locations of many of your photos. Yeah, we hit a lot of shrines when we were there as well. Sounds like you had an amazing time and it will be fun watching the things you learned there with your friend creep into this blog.

I love this post! No need to apologize. I live in Japan, but I haven’t been to Kyoto yet. I’ll remember this when I do go. I’ve also never heard of Nancy Hachisu, but now I am really looking forward to her book! And your smoked salmon hash looks so delicious. Both your recipes and stories have value, so please keep it up!
Best wishes,
Kate

Stunning photos and what an awesome trip. Your brother, nephew and you have the same eyes! I’ll have to show my son these photos. He is really into Japanese culture, aikido and 7 Samurai. Your visit to the set must be the Universal Studios theme park equivalent. Did did you get to see 13 Assassins last year? The set looks alot like it. BTW, my cousin attended Stanford and lived in Japan as an exchange student also.

Elise, have you tried making okonomiyaki at home? I found a couple recipes to inspire me online and tried it at home after falling in love with them at a street food fair. Of course, mine don’t quite taste the same as Gottsui’s, but I enjoyed them nonetheless. I just wondered if you’d tried them before and had any tips. Thanks!